


A Green Thumb in the Red Forest

by Ausphin



Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Accidental Hurt, Canon-Typical Violence, Damaged Huntress, Endgame Collapse, F/F, Gen, Sometimes Healing Isn't Easy, unintentional hurt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 22:01:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,841
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21896116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ausphin/pseuds/Ausphin
Summary: It was just bad luck that Claudette was found. She’d hid right under the Huntress’s nose. If she’d known what would come after though, she might have gotten caught much sooner.---Huntress catches Claudette trying to defend herself. Surprised by the nerve, Claudette is spared from the hook. Can she cultivate an unlikely connection with her?
Relationships: Anna | The Huntress & Claudette Morel, Anna | The Huntress/Claudette Morel
Comments: 3
Kudos: 35





	A Green Thumb in the Red Forest

It was just bad luck that Claudette was found. She’d hid right under the Huntress’s nose. If she’d known what would come after though, she might have gotten caught much sooner.

Claudette was working on a generator when her hand slipped. She barely got it free of the wires before the blast would’ve caught it. Meg flinched next to her but kept working. She started again but all too soon she heard the telltale heartbeat. The Killer.

Meg was off like a shot, disappeared through tall corn stalks. Claudette hissed a curse and crouch-walked the other way. She didn’t have speed on her side, but the redhead might have been distracting enough that she could just hide, she reasoned, finding a locker and slipping inside. 

The red glow came and went along with haunting humming she was all too familiar with. Then a deadly woosh through the air, Claudette holding her breath as the hatchet flew, the sound of it breaking against something in the direction Meg had went. Phew.

In the background of her mind, part of Claudette was mortified that she’d been through enough of these matches to know what the sound of a hatchet hitting flesh was. Before she had time to truly process that though, she heard a grunt from the Huntress, far closer than she expected. 

Claudette flattened herself to the back of the locker, one of the hanging hatchet handles pressing into her back. “Oh. Oh no,” she whispered, the realization hitting her that the Killer might try to restock.

And sure enough, those footsteps were getting closer. Slipping an axe off the wall as quietly as she could, she held it directly in front of her. The tight space made swinging it unlikely so the only way she could get a potential attack off would be to drop the blade and hope to catch her by surprise.

With the shadow looming though, her nerves wavered. As the door creaked open, it gave out and at the last minute she turned the axe so it was flat to her chest.

Without looking, a hand reached in. Then paused as it had encountered an obstacle in the form of Claudette and had reflexively pinned her and the hatchet against the wall. A good thing she had turned the blade too as it was now flat under her chin.

The other hand slowly opened the second door and the Huntress peered in, taking in the scene. It was hard to tell behind that mask and a stoic face but curiosity seemed to be playing in her eyes. Looking at the weapon clutched tightly, the Huntress seemed conflicted. Claudette had heard stories from the other survivors about her sympathy for little girls. She wasn’t quite the age range for that but maybe in this misty hellscape the Killer was less picky.

With her free hand, she plucked the hatchet away with ease. The Huntress brandished the weapon a moment as if debating, before she sighed and attached it to her belt. Those eyes peered at her again before she brought in her other hand and pulled Claudette out and onto her shoulder.

Claudette squeaked at the shoulder against her gut. The other didn’t seem to notice, starting to walk away with the survivor. 

Against her own instincts she let herself go limp in the embrace since she hadn’t been harmed and wasn’t sure she wanted to risk getting on the Huntress’s bad side. She’d died and came back many times before, but each time was just as painful and she didn’t feel the need to experience it any more than she had to. 

Plus those strong arms in a peaceful (or more peaceful than usual) sure weren’t a bad thing. In another world she might have swooned. 

She began to have second thoughts though as they reached the stairs to the basement. They stopped in front of the hooks at the center of the room and Claudette braced herself. Although getting impaled on a rusty hook was no joke, the real fear was the touch of that unfathomable evil, the Entity. 

Instead, the Huntress lifted her and set her so she was sitting sideways on the round part of the hook. While the thin metal was not particularly comfortable, it was far better than the point to her left. She let go of Claudette and stepped back, frowning as the survivor struggled to balance. Claudette was almost reminded of someone hanging a picture and stepping back to see if it was level. The Huntress moved forward again, catching her arm and raising it to help her hold onto the framework over the hook to stabilize. 

The two stared at each other for a moment before the Huntress gave a stiff nod and began to leave the basement. 

She was interrupted though. “U-um!” Claudette’s voice came out sharp as she tried to get her attention, lightening her tone as the Huntress turned back. “Please… don’t go after the others,” she winced at how weak that sounded. The Killer tilted her head and said something she couldn’t understand, both heavily accented and somehow distorted by some sort of interference. Even if it were once Russian, the Entity seems to have corrupted the words beyond her comprehension. She presumed she sounded the same way to her.

Using the hand not holding herself steady, Claudette pointed at the stairs then drew an exaggerated ‘x’ through the air. A blink in response. She tried again, this time swinging her hand like an axe then that same ‘x’ and shaking her head.

The Huntress stared back at her, then tried to say something again. She pointed at herself and then at the ground in front of her. An implied ‘ _You want me to stay here?_ ’, to which Claudette nodded vigorously. She tilted her head again and that thin line of a mouth tilted into a brief smile. Then she flinched slightly, one hand going to her ear as if something were yelling. Her face literally darkening, she shook her head and lifted her hand in a ‘stop’ gesture before going up the stairs. Humming that lullaby. 

\-----

Claudette wasn’t sure how long it was after the Huntress had left before she started getting in her own head and questioning herself out loud. “Why… am I sitting here waiting for a Killer to come back?” Despite their apparent peace, she kept her voice low just in case. 

Trying to figure out how to dismount, she lifted herself slightly. With all the grace of a deer on ice, she pushed herself off the hook to the ground and stumbled, catching herself against the wall. Grunting, she looked around. 

The basement wasn’t exactly extravagant in its decor. An ominous red tint she normally saw as the Stain before the Killer, a pair of lockers, a chest. She felt the ground tremble, the sign of endgame collapse starting

Lifting an ear for a minute to make sure she couldn’t hear that heartbeat, Claudette nodded to herself and began to rummage through the box. She had no clue where its contents ever came from: it seemed like someone knew about the concept of containers and was mimicking them, but filling it with anything possible from literal garbage to clothing to random tools. It took her a few minutes to find anything of value before she plucked out a key. She studied it a moment. She could make an escape…

\-----

It was a few minutes later when the Huntress approached the shack and the basement again. The stairs creaking as she descended, she paused at the entrance, seeing the hook she’d sat Claudette on empty. Her expression began to harden but a low whistle interrupted her. The survivor was sitting on the chest watching her with a coy smile. 

A part of Claudette felt both an odd sense of relief that she’d returned and some note of pleasure that the Huntress had still been expecting her. ‘ _Do I really want a Killer to be looking forward to seeing me…?_ ’

As she approached, Claudette switched to an inquisitive look. She gestured with two fingers back and forth then drew a big square, a shadow puppet of running away to a door. The Huntress murmured something and held up two fingers.

Claudette held up three fingers questioningly and the Huntress shook her head slightly. She nodded slowly. “Two people escaping is better than zero at least.”

The two looked at each other for a moment, as if questioning what’s next. The ground shuddered again and Claudette saw red cracks sear across the ground. Collapse was near. The Huntress seemed to see the same thing. 

She stepped forward and started to lift Claudette, then seemed to think better of it, setting her back to a standing position as if sheepishly. The Huntress grunted and turned to the stairs, making sure she was following.

Once they were out of the shack, the Huntress started towards one of the large doors. Claudette had to almost jog to keep up with the other’s large strides. Catching her arm to try to get her to slow down, she grabbed the first thing she could reach, holding the Huntress’s hand. She looked back at her with an enigmatic expression but lightly closed her hand around Claudette’s.

It was odd walking through the trial that was relatively peaceful. If it weren’t for the realm starting to collapse, it would be a nice quiet night. Claudette tried not to look at the spots stained by blood. 

An echoing bell marked nearing the end of the collapse.

When they made it to the gate, the Huntress slowed. Claudette stepped ahead of her then turned, confused. “It’s just a few more steps. I know you can’t go where we stay but you still leave, right?” 

The Huntress had gone rigid but the grip on her hand tightened.

Claudette blinked at her. “Can you… that’s kind of hurting.” She reached to loosen the hand slightly but it wouldn’t budge. 

“I’m sorry, but really could you just…” The Huntress took a step back, Claudette stumbling with her. 

The collapse was speeding up. Behind, she saw most of the floor was lit in red, pieces falling away. A distant building. A few walls closer to them. 

“Please!” Panic was bubbling up out of Claudette, feeling the rapid approach of the Entity. “I-I need to go!” Using her free hand, she started shoving at the Huntress, making no visible impact. The other hand reached out and caught hers.

Tugging at both to no avail, she threw herself back with all her weight then did it again. “I need to. Please. I can’t…” Her voice had cracked, weakening with her struggles.

Falling limp trying to lean away, Claudette looked into the Huntress’s gaze. Those dark eyes just staring at hers, mouth in a pained grimace. 

Then as the ground fell away just outside the gate, she felt the grip loosen and she fell backwards. As she scrambled back to safety, the Huntress turned away and the realm faded.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I took some artistic liberties with Endgame Collapse, making it a more literal collapse as the Entity stops supporting the fantasy realm and it falls apart. I plan to continue this, tentatively with 1-2 more chapters but will see how it comes out.


End file.
